Author Wes Locher has teamed up with Stratics for a giveaway of his new book Braving Britannia. This book explores the history and impact of Ultima Online and includes interviews from current and past dev team members as well as many UO and Stratics community members. Click here for more details!

The town of Northwood is located in the grasslands far to the north of Brittany near the western coast of Spindrift Bay in the North Paladis region. Rumors are spreading that the town boasts some remarkable similarities to locations on Earth known as Britannia Manor and Castleton but surely that must be coincidence?

Northwood is based on the Grasslands POT template and is being rebuilt for Release 52. As with other town rebuilds, the locations of player lots, merchants, and scene exits will not be changed.

Many of you may be familiar with Britannia Manor, Lord British’s residence for many years, as well as the village known as ‘Castleton’ and its various landmarks.

Within Northwood, many of those landmarks can be found. Avatars can relive fond memories of Castleton and mark some new ones!

The Curtain Theater

Stockades outside of the tavern

The Pirate Ship / Fort battleground

Ye Olde Rope Bridge

Britannia ManorOutdoor Chapel

Thanks for following our progress!

World Builder
Travis “Vas Corp Por” Koleski
​

The Making of South Boundless Forest (cont.)

South Boundless Forest is a Tier 3 adventuring area in the North Paladis region far north of Yew, along the road to the Kas Ruins. This forest of ancient redwoods is the site of a major Kobold logging operation that is supplying lumber to Kobold locations as far away as K’rul. Stag clan barbarians have also taken up camp here in the ruins of an ancient colosseum from pre-cataclysm times.

Blood River Forest is a Tier 3 adventuring area in the Longfall region, north of Blood River Outskirts. Elves in the region have built a fish hatchery by diverting local waterways. These elves are highly suspicious of all outsiders due to the recent events around Blood River involving vigilante groups. The area also includes the ruins of an ancient stepped pyramid and an abandoned copper stripmine.

This scene contains a puzzle that awards the new Invigoration blessing (see New Blessings in Combat Section below for details).

Hey guys, SorcerousSteve here to give you the latest on the Blood River Forest!

Well of Invigoration

Ancient paintings line the walls of the Pyramid complex.

Looking North to the fish hatchery, on the left smoke can be seen coming from the fish smokehouse while on the right we can see some of the fish pools.

Inside one of the fish ice houses an elf takes inventory.

Copper Golems wreak havoc on the open pit copper mine.

A pack of wild boar charges through a section of the Blood River Forest.

The moment where a meteor from the ongoing meteor shower swings by the pyramid backdrop.

Hope you guys enjoy R52!

Esteben Zaldivar
Level Designer
​

The Companions of Truth, Love, and Courage (cont.)

This week we continued development on the companions by working on their custom gear. Last week we introduced Fiona’s Lute and Conrad’s Shield. This week we introduce Ariel’s Staff and Fiona’s Crossbow.

Ariel’s Staff: Sometimes called the Staff of Truth, Ariel’s quarterstaff has the book of truth rendered in stone with metal pages held in the twining branches of a gnarled wooden pole.

Fiona’s Triple Crossbow: Why settle for a single bolt in your enemy when you can riddle them with three? Fiona’s triple crossbow is the answer. Bearing Iolo’s signature maker’s mark this is an incredibly complex and deadly weapon.

Co-op and World Launch Videos

We’re gearing up for Launch next week (March 27 is the date!) and have a couple of brand new videos to get you excited for what’s coming! Watch them below on our YouTube channel. Be sure to subscribe to the channel to receive updates on future videos!

Before our booth opened up at SXSW last week, we had a fantastic party with the community at the Bullock Texas History Museum here in Austin. Later in the evening Shooter Jennings cranked up the tunes by putting on a great show with his band!

Have a look below at some of the photos from the evening’s celebrations:

MJ Guthrie from MassivelyOP.com was eager to attend our Launch Event in Austin last week. She got around to chatting with our team and many members of the community that attended! This week MassivelyOP released an article about the visit, and the much anticipate launch of the game on March 27:

The day is finally arriving: Shroud of the Avatar is formally launching next week. It’s been a long journey. The path to this new old-school MMO started back on Kickstarter on March 8th, 2013. Now, five years almost to the day, SOTA is emerging. On March 27th, release #52 will be the official launch of episode 1. And fans didn’t have to wait until the end of the month to celebrate; Portalarium hosted a launch party this past week in Austin, Texas.

Besides hanging out with devs and fans at the shindig, I visited the studio’s offices for a tour and interview with Richard Garriott and Starr Long. There, I got to see memorabilia from the very beginnings of Garriott’s game-making career as well as a sneak peek of the events that will occur at SOTA’s launch. After that, it was celebration time at the awesome From Pong to Pokemon exhibit at the The Bullock Texas State History Museum (which happened to have a display of some of Garriott’s early gaming goodies!)

Before the party got underway, I went to the offices (not the original small cabin by the lake, sadly) to have a chat with Garriott and Long. We talked about how far the game had come, the benefits of the open development (instant feedback!) as well as the negatives (why isn’t the game done when I can play it?), the team’s pride in never missing an on-time launch of any of the 51 releases, communication, and the upcoming marketing push that will happen right after launch. I also queried them about housing, finances, in-game spreadable diseases, the possibility of mobile companion apps, and combat. I got to tour the results of the in-game launch event as well as tour the office itself. (I also learned a couple of fun facts: Ultima IV was forged from the desire to make a game about virtue after getting fan mail from Ultima II and learning that people were killing off all the NPCs and Lord British; and Garriott’s favorite cover is Ultima VI, because of how it relates to the game.)
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Testing on QA makes you eligible for Testing Incentive Rewards including gold crowns, the Ant Farm, Antennae, Bug Cloak and Paintings. We also brought back limited time Special Rares like the Corpion Chair for R52 testing!

The Ambassadors Program: How You Can Help

Dear Avatars,

To prepare for the growth of the Community after launch, we are looking for passionate Avatars, longtime citizens of Novia, to be volunteer Ambassadors of Shroud of the Avatar. We need those who exemplify the value of Avatars in the way they interact with the Community and help welcoming, onboarding, and supporting newcomers in their native language.

We are excited to initiate this project that empowers our Community to have even more impact and influence on its own expansion and evolution!

SotA Ambassadors will have a multifunctional role, being representatives and also caretakers of the Sub-Communities of a specific language. Their mission is to welcome and onboard the outlanders who are new to the Community, in their native language, and maintain the respective language forum as a fun and friendly place. In order to do so, the Ambassadors will have some moderation permissions for the section of the respective language, on the Forum as well as on Discord.

If you are one of those Avatars who can call New Britannia their home, uphold the Community Guidelines in an exemplary way, and are willing to actively help the Community Management team with this mission, keep reading to find out more about this role!

Free Trial access allows you to play the entire game in any of the Online modes with a few key differences in game play. You will be able to explore hundreds of scenes, talk with thousands of players, adventure through the opening quests, and gain experience and skills as you get used to the world of New Britannia!

Here are the few Visitor limits:

The term (Visitor) is appended to their character name

Max skill level set to 50

Limited to a single Story Path (Truth, Love or Courage)

Cannot purchase nor sell items via Player Vendors nor Public Vendors

No ownership of player property nor use of player property signs

Cannot move/interact with items on a player property (even if given permissions)

Cannot interact with public chests

Cannot give items to other players via Trade or Mail

Cannot flag as Open PVP

Cannot gain nor create ransom items when you kill or are killed in PVP (in Open PVP zones)

Character data may be deleted if not eventually upgraded to a paid account

In honor of the new tamed pet dances and new bears, we are putting a selection of pets on sale this weekend! We’ve got everything from cute cats and dogs of varying types to even clockwork dragons! You can also view each item individually in the Add-On Store:

Visit the official Community Calendar to see the great lineup of activities our amazing community has planned for this weekend! And be sure to check out this month’s Release Events thread in the SotA forums for additional events.

Traditional Release Dance Party (New Time!) – Mar. 30 at 5pm CT

Join us for a special dance party to celebrate Release 52 and the game’s official launch! Dance parties are put on by the community, hosted in a player owned town in-game. This dance party is being held in the town of Ordinis Mortis!

With good cheer and celebration galore
Lets continue to party like we have never before
It is the time to embrace a brand new start
And say goodbye to things of the past

This new release smile all the way through
feel blessed in all things that are new
Embrace the new vibe with all your heart
I guarantee you will have a blast

Dance all night to the DJ beat
We celebrate more then just a Traditional Release
Trust your confidence in their skill
For tonight in Ordinis Mortis we will…

Celebrate The Launch Party!
With DJ Darkstarr!

To listen in in-game while at the dance party, double click on an Aether Amplifier (a radio/speaker looking device) and select Avatar’s Radio or listen directly from the Avatar’s Radio website!.

Join us for another 24 hours of gaming fun for a great cause! We’ll be streaming for 24 hours straight in support of the Ripple Effect Campaign.

We’ll be playing games, giving away a ton of prizes all day long, and spreading awareness about the Global Water Crisis and Water.org So get your exclusive in-game 2018 Ripple Effect Glowing Mug and Cloak and join us on twitch and in New Britannia for a day long celebration of all things water!

Welcome to another Community Spotlight! These spotlights are dedicated to community generated in-game content and activities. Content is usually about a player town or gathering area, and can be featured by a single individual or an entire guild. It is up to the community to decide what we spotlight!

For this week’s spotlight we are taking a walk through the unique town and factory of S Mart Factorium.

By Vladamir Begemot: “Nestled on a mountain between Resolute and Highvale, the S Mart Factorium draws crafters and adventurers whose contributions are sold across all of Novia. Adventurers bring raw materials to the factory. There they are refined by crafters and made into furniture which can be seen on display in the large showroom.

SOTACON in 2018 has been announced! A community run event, SOTACON Austin is going to be the place for interaction with the developers of Shroud of the Avatar and having fun celebrating your time in the game. Join your fellow community members this coming October 11-13, 2018 in Austin, TX!

Registration for the Shroud of the Avatar Convention – Austin 2018 is now open! Admission tickets, cloaks, and VIP packages are on sale now at our Eventbrite Site.

For the players and completely run by the players, this second Convention in Austin brings new activities and great opportunities for attendees and SotA developers. You will experience:

A relaxing and social Thursday evening with an icebreaker at a local pub/restaurant.

An action-packed Friday with ceremonies, speeches, prizes, panel sessions, group photos, live action role-play (LARP) duels, dinner, and Shakespearean play at Richard Garriott’s Curtain Theatre. (medieval garb encouraged on this day, but not necessary).

A convention/business style Saturday with panels, break-out discussions, feedback given directly to the developers, and prizes.

A blow-out social Saturday evening with a dance party to include DJ, cosplay, prizes, contests, and stories.

A relaxing and open Sunday for guilds, player towns, communities and friends to hold their own activities to enjoy Austin and meet with friends.

In addition, a special Thursday afternoon and evening is for our special VIPs to include a Portalarium tour and private reception dinner.

Radical Empathy Education Foundation (REEF) is an Austin-based nonprofit leveraging game technology to fight one of the 21st century’s greatest evils: Human Trafficking. REEF’s first VR experience, TRAPPED: A VR Detective Story, places users in the shoes of Lisa, a 14 year old victim of sex trafficking, and educates them on how a normal teenager can become a victim of this horrible scourge.

TRAPPED’s mission is to raise awareness of the issue (40M worldwide victims of modern slavery), generate empathy for its victims and survivors, and stop perpetrators by granting all funds raised in excess of dev costs to law enforcement agencies and NGOs. REEF’s President, Billy Joe Cain, has over 25 years in the game development industry and has known Richard and Starr since the early 90s (he was lead designer for Wing Commander: Prophecy and Ultima 7 Black Gate for SNES).

Stratics is the oldest continually running MMORPG Fansite on the Internet. Founded in 1997 Stratics has served the Ultima Online Community for 18 years. We strive to provide the most complete social experience for Ultima Online players.